UK Internet Users Giving Online Shopping More Credit

Nearly 40% of the UK internet population, or 5.5 million users, have used credit cards online in the last six months. This represents an increase of more than 30% compared with December 1999, when only 4 million had.

BMRB’s Internet Monitor, which released these figures, attributes this increase in use to an increase in confidence regarding the security of on-line transactions. “The rising confidence will help to accelerate the already fast growing e-commerce sector” says Paul Milsom, author of Internet Monitor. “Fear of credit card fraud is one of the key barriers to e-commerce participation amongst internet users.”

Some potential users are less confident than others, it seems. Among female internet users and the over-55 age group, only two in five consider online credit card transactions to be safe. Consequently, only a third of women and a third of age 55+ internet users have bought online, compared to two-fifths of the whole UK internet population.

BMRB: www.bmrb.co.uk